Contribution Based Job Seekers Allowance (JSA)

sharski

Having worked (in the past) at a JCP Contact Centre, taking new claims over the phone, I can catagorically say that the 'lady on the phone' who seemed to 'know nothing' & 'was misinforming you', in fact was following the text & questions thrown up by the software.
OP - if you answered the question 'Do you have savings of over £16k?' with 'yes', the software would only then bring up relevant questions for JSA (conts) - and therefore, no savings questions would appear. However, did you then answer 'yes' to 'Do you want to apply for help with housing/council tax?' - if so, then these questions will appear.

The 'lady on the phone' had no choice but to ask the questions on screen as they were guided by your first few answers during the call.

Treder

Just to let you know that I immediately told the advisor I only wanted to apply for contribution based JSA. It is all I tried to claim and want to claim.

NASA_2

Treder wrote: »

Just to let you know that I immediately told the advisor I only wanted to apply for contribution based JSA. It is all I tried to claim and want to claim.

By what Sharski has said, and on thinking back it is what I had heard from a colleague who visited a BDC, the software isnt all that flexible. The questions seem to dictate what you claim instead of you staing what you want to claim and that dictating the questions.

I guess they thought it was a good idea - its been dropped for ESA though - which is the most recent benefits system (That I know of).

Treder

Thanks Sharski. She did say to me do you want to claim housing benefit and I said not yet but I would be interested to know how much I would get (thinking it would be a quick calculation once the phone call had ended). Therefore she was obviously obliged to ask the savings questions. It goes some way to explaining why the call was so onerous. She did not properly explain that if I did not want to provide savings information then I couldn't claim housing benefit and I did not know to ask so it was all just a misunderstanding. Thanks very much all. Seems reason now explained. Great. If problems tomorrow will let you know.

Treder

I agree ESA that the software did seem to follow a pattern and they seemed unable to cope with me telling them what I wanted to claim but I do accept responsibility for not making it 100% clear I did not want housing benefit. I did not realise my vague answer had such an impact on the rest of the call. Take care.

costaerer

they asked me. i just told them what i had. i didnt have any free cash. i had a few thousand pounds in savings account i couldnt access. i told her, she didnt even put it on the sheet because i couldnt access it!!

terryw

hayley11 wrote: »

What if they asked for your medical records? Would you happily hand them over even though they are completely irrelevent? I don't have a penny to my name but if I was in this situation, I wouldn't want to give them my bank statements either, they are private and most people don't go handing stuff out like that willy nilly.

Got to agree with you one hundred percent. Next question:
What is your inside trouser length?

Next question:

Are you a member of a religious organisation?
Next question:
Have you any red-spots on your back-side?

Next question:
Will you vote New Labour at the next question?

All these questions are really silly but not nearly as silly as the question you have been asked.

The Op wished to claim a CONTRIBUTION based benefit. Any other questions are just daft unless they refer to Contribution history.

dampsquib

They just put my income down as "over £16,000" and then proceeded with just the Contribution Based claim.
Worth taking the last 2 or 3 P60s with you though. In my case, amongst other things, their records were up the creek, and it took months to resolve my claim.

Treder

I'm logging off now but just to say thanks for all the replies. My lack of knowldge on claiming benefits lead to them asking so many questions especially regarding the lack of clarity in my answer in respect of housing benefit. Still it is a learning curve. If however I turn up tomorrow and despite stating I only want to definitely claim CB JSA and they still ask for financials then I will let you all know. Cheers.

NASA_2

dampsquib wrote: »

They just put my income down as "over £16,000" and then proceeded with just the Contribution Based claim.
Worth taking the last 2 or 3 P60s with you though. In my case, amongst other things, their records were up the creek, and it took months to resolve my claim.

I feel compelled to point out that DWP do not maintain NI records, that is done by HMRC, the DWP merely retrieve the information that is held by HMRC and without evidence to the contrary accept it as being correct.

There are many reasons the records can be wrong - including errors by employers.